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A Portrait of Max, Nose and Paws - Stories to sniff and great rumors of travel, 2/11/2012
Her father had taught her about hands. About a dog’s paws. Whenever her father was alone with a dog in a house he would lean over and smell the skin at the base of its paw. This, he would say, as if coming away from a brandy snifter, is the greatest smell in the world! A bouquet! Great rumors of travel! She would pretend disgust, but the dog’s paw was a wonder: the smell of it never suggested dirt. It’s a cathedral! her father had said, so-and-so’s garden, that field of grasses, a walk through cyclamen - a concentration of hints of all the paths the animal had taken during the day. — Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient
After reading this passage one day quite a long time ago…I never saw a dog’s paws in the same way ever again. That’s the power of a good book. (That never made it into the movie.)
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This is a blog about art, making art (painting, drawing, photography), writing books as an independent author/publisher, and all the stuff that happens along the way. It is to be understood that all art, photography, and writing are mine and credited copyright Laura J. Wellner unless otherwise noted.
